“Researchers interviewed people who had been hospitalized in 16 institutions about their own experience and checked it against medical records. Twenty-three percent said they’d had at least one “adverse event,” although only about half of those were documented in their record.”

Though much of the article was more disturbing than uplifting, I am glad to see the positive action and great efforts that are taking place in Massachusetts. Though too late for our family, we hope to see the same efforts taking place in California someday.

PS – For those that may wonder about this part of the article: “.. acknowledges that nondisclosure hasn’t worked — that involving only health care insiders and state bureaucrats is not getting the job done. “We do need to get beyond the inside game,” she says. “The doors need to be thrown open and other voices need to be heard — particularly the consumer voice.” But that doesn’t mean, she adds, that names and details of particular errors need to be made public.”

Please know that we completely agree, and we do not feel we make this statement in a hypocritical manner. Please know that the original version of this website contained no names, and public disclosure of Rowan’s doctors and hospital was only done after many months of attempts for transparency. This disclosure was only made after we felt that our option to keep their identities private was exhausted. We continue to feel that the only way for the hospital and doctors to address this act of negligence is to expose their names, and we hope that a time will come when we feel safe removing their names from this website.

Rowan was killed at a renowned children’s hospital as a direct result of the careless and unnecessary use of general anesthesia for a “routine” outpatient diagnostic procedure .. against his mother’s wishes.

Want to help make a difference? Visit How To Take Action to speak out against medical negligence and special needs discrimination in healthcare.
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